"In July 1969, a hundred or so black women crowded into a room, their attention commanded by the sounds and grainy images issuing forth from a small black-and-white television. The flickering light of the TV illuminated the women’s faces, the history of their country written in the great diversity of their features and hair and skin color, which ranged from near-ivory to almost-ebony, hues of beige and coffee and cocoa and topaz filling in between. Some of the women were approaching their golden years, the passage of time and experience etched in their faces and bearing. Others were in full bloom of youth, their eyes like diamonds, reflecting a bright future."

Hidden Figures is a remarkable account of a small number of intelligent, hard-working, driven and admirable African-American women who made significant contributions to the Space Race and to the fields of math, science and engineering. At a time when many parts of the United States still practiced segregation and racial prejudices were still widespread, their story is even more extraordinary. What a day it must have been for those women standing in that room in 1969 as the culmination of their dedication and perseverance was about to peak as the first man made his way to the moon!

This book is thoroughly researched and introduces us to four of these gifted women and their stories as they took the plunge into careers as mathematicians - or ‘computers’, as they were called before the age of information technology and digital electronics. Author Margot Lee Shetterly also provides us with many details of the civil rights movement, school segregation and eventual integration, and the aeronautic industry. Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden faced obstacles and discrimination in the workplace, as they lived in a country where being a white male provided the best probability of equitable pay and chance of advancement. However, their brilliant minds did not go unnoticed and they garnered the respect from their coworkers and supervisors that they undeniably deserved. Their fighting spirits led them to opportunities that were previously unimaginable. And yet they still faced the ugly reality of “colored only” bathrooms and cafeteria tables in the workplace. It is extraordinary to think that while these women worked at a place as technologically progressive as Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Virginia, that this same state was steeped with the injustice imposed by the Jim Crow laws. The government fought against integrating schools, even to the point of closing down schools that attempted to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. Some schools offered incentives to black families that agreed to enroll their children in the black districts.

"Virginia, a state with one of the highest concentrations of scientific talent in the world, led the nation in denying education to its youth."

I feel I should mention just a couple of minor quibbles I had which kept this from being a 5-star book for me. First, I had hoped to feel more of an emotional or personal connection to these four awesome ladies. This piece was missing perhaps because we didn’t really get to learn as much about how they felt, but rather more about what they did. Second, the narrative jumped around quite a bit – both in time and between individuals. I think a more linear story with sections devoted to the individual women would have worked better for me. Nevertheless, it is a truly inspirational story that I think everyone should discover – whether through this book or by watching the movie (which I have yet to do myself). I think the best experience would include both.

"I want to be an engineer like my mother." - Levi Jackson to his mom, Mary Jackson – what a proud mom moment those words must have provided back in 1960!